5/16/2011

L.A. Noire is of course Rockstar's huge benchmark title that comes out tomorrow. It's already getting high marks from most of the major outlets. But I can already see the underlying problem, and it's a more common one than you'd think-All the reviews are talking about the compelling story, the amazing facial technology and the stunning recreation of 1940s era Los Angeles. But talking about how the game actually plays or whether there is really much gameplay beyond the bound to get repetitive interrogation sequences? Virtually non-existent. This has been an issue in games like Heavy Rain and Shenmue where way too much focus was on the story and somewhere along the line somebody forgot to program in exciting and compelling GAMEPLAY. I mean I love the dialogue stuff in games like Mass Effect and indeed pretty much all Bioware efforts. But if that's all there was to those titles, I sure as hell would not pay $60 to experience it. I'm sure that L.A. Noire represents a huge leap forwarding what games can be capable of doing, but so do a lot of tech demos, and this seems more like a really stretched out tech demo to me. I do plan on renting it this week so hopefully I can give a more informed opinion by Thursday or Friday.

Ok that's really it for my post today, but I am going to really try to post more often (try and really get back up to 3 posts a week like I used to), maybe more. So until next time, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Horrible Bosses